installation
Sharing Watermelon and Stories
Images of the Good Life in the East
Exhibition and Forum
Chișinău, 14-28 September 2024
Exhibition participants: Darya Tsymbalyuk, Ghenadie Popescu,
Maria Doni, Marina Sulima, Nikita Kadan, Pavel Brăila, Tatiana
Fiodorova, Alexandra Tatar, Ana Barbu, Ana Kun, Andrei Nacu, Catherine
Morland, Daria Nedelcu in collaboration with Cyrill Lim, Jo Brăilescu,
Irina Botea & Jon Dean, Lilia Nenescu, Maria Mora in collaboration
with Tudor Vlădescu, Paula Dunker, Raluca Popa, Silvia Dogaru
Exhibition venues: Bunker, Lutnița, Zpațiu
Opening: 14 September 2024
Forum participants: Charles Esche (online), Corina Oprea (online), Elena
Crippa, Irina Cios, Magda Radu, Miki Braniște (online), Sara Buraya,
Theo Prodromidis, Zdenka Badovinac (online), Diana Munteanu, Lilia
Dragneva, Nora Dorogan, Octavian Eșanu (online), Pavel Brăila, Rusanda
Curcă, Ştefan Rusu, Tatiana Fiodorova, Valeria Barbas, Vitalie
Sprînceană, Vladimir Us and others
National Art Museum of Moldova
15 September 2024
Curators: The Resurrection Committee (Adelina Luft, Nora Dorogan, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, Raluca Voinea)
From 14 to 28 September 2024 the project “Images of the Good Life in the
East” will take place in Chișinău, organized by tranzit.ro/Bucharest in
partnership with teatru-spălătorie, Ksak Association (Center for
Contemporary Art Chișinău) and Bunker space, Lutnița gallery, Zpațiu,
and The National Art Museum of Moldova. Curated by Adelina Luft, Nora
Dorogan, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, and Raluca Voinea, the project consists
of an exhibition in the partner spaces with an opening on 14 September,
and a public forum at the National Art Museum of Moldova taking place on
15 September.
The exhibition brings together artists from Moldova and Ukraine:
Ghenadie Popescu, Marina Sulima, Tatiana Fiodorova, Pavel Brăila, Darya
Tsymbalyuk, Maria Doni, Nikita Kadan, together with 14 participants from
the independent course “Non-Western Technologies for the Good Life”
(October 2023 - May 2024): Alexandra Tatar, Ana Barbu, Ana Kun, Andrei
Nacu, Catherine Morland, Daria Nedelcu in collaboration with Cyrill Lim,
Jo Brăilescu, Irina Botea & Jon Dean, Lilia Nenescu, Maria Mora in
collaboration with Tudor Vlădescu, Paula Dunker, Raluca Popa, and Silvia
Dogaru.
The project “Images of the Good Life in the East” is an attempt to look
for preliminary answers and bridge ends for the next general challenge,
relevant beyond borders and for societies across the region in a
turbulent historical time: regaining the power of symbolization after a
long period in which the East of Europe has suffered an extensive
material, social and cultural devaluation, compensated by an import of
models, symbols and influences. This project proposes profiling the idea
of a good life amid a critical backdrop which does not negate, but
acknowledges the abusive imports and destructions in the recent past,
the current proximity to war and the possibility of future catastrophes,
including ecological ones. If buen vivir and sumak kawsay have been
proposed by indigenous movements from Central and South America as
unifying symbols of local philosophies and practices which shape
wellbeing and ecological restoration through communal ways of living
where violence, extractivism and consumerism are reduced or eliminated,
what images of the good life in the East can provide an initial answer
to this call? If from India we have learned about sangam practices, of
collective meetings to discuss systemic alternatives in day-to-day life,
both at a practical and conceptual level, sharing experiences and
collective visions, what conversations, forums or gatherings can be
agreed upon so that the answers to local needs could be opened towards
addressing global and international problems?
The words image, good life, and East from the title
of the project are also provocations to think outside preconceived
frameworks. The challenge to think of the image verbally, as an action
in time, rather than a surface within a space. To crack into the depth
of reality beyond practices that produce images as style, reflections of
a given reality, or reducing depth to a surface. The challenge to
situate one’s own life in the midst of a dynamic reality, ongoing
transformations, and to shape the symbols of such complex shifts. To
work critically in order to cultivate a good life based on ethical
relations with the world around and on the acknowledgement of small and
large issues. The challenge to rethink the East and its zones of
correlation, creation and reinvention, despide dislocation, uprooting
and devaluation.
The independent course “Non-Western Technologies for the Good Life” took
place from October 2023 to May 2024 and was organized by tranzit.ro
Association together with Ovidiu Țichindeleanu as mentor, part of the
L’Internationale Confederation’s project Museum of the Commons. By
proposing a reorientation of sensibilities and cartography of reason
that frame cultural movements in Eastern Europe, the course connected
the group formed at The Experimental Station for Research on Art and
Life with reflections, practices and innovative initiatives from
different places around the world that tackle important issues and
global challenges via local solutions. A conversation has been shaped
with messengers from indigenous nations such as Abya Yala (America),
Kurdistan and India, to elaborate tools indispensable to an ecological
and communal imaginary, to cultivate vegetative or ignored resources,
and to ultimately create new spaces and institutions in which research
and work can take place in convivial situations and on strong ethical
footing.
The project “Images of the Good Life in the East” is curated by
the fluid collective “The Resurrection Committee” and is organized
within the framework of the Museum of the Commons.
This project is cofinanced by the Romanian Cultural Institute through
the Cantemir Programme - a funding framework for cultural projects
intended for the international environment.
The Romanian Cultural Institute cannot be held responsible for the content of this material.
Museum of the Commons is cofinanced by The European Union. Views
and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do
not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European
Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European
Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
ERSTE Fundation is the main partner of tranzit.ro.
Pictures:
Heimat (2022)
Expansive installation made of wood, sheet metal, string, cardboard, paper, and other materials, as well as transducers, amplifiers, and MP3 players.
The installation is the result of a lengthy artistic engagement with the German term "Heimat," initiated by the experimental Swiss music formation HYPER DUO.
The critical examination of the concept of "Heimat" and its political and ideological instrumentalisation in the context of German-speaking cultural areas leads to a discourse that investigates themes such as invention, myth, nostalgia, sentimentality, and collective memory. Through Bachelard’s* chests, closed trunks, and cupboards, through the protective, warm space with a burning fireplace, surrounded by a wintry, icy cold, the installation attempts to approach an ambivalent theme positively. Just like "Heimat," the word "Geborgenheit" is considered untranslatable. Geborgenheit describes a state or feeling of security, warmth, peace, closeness, and love. The current global political situation painfully brings to light how displacement, change, and alienation cause us to lose something. The installation "Heimat" is an experimental attempt to replace this loss with Geborgenheit.
*Gaston Bachelard, "La Poétique de l'Espace", 1958
A Land Unknown (2022)
Lim & Zaes’ installation piece collects various visual, tactile, sonic and human-made phenomena, all of which unfold at, and on, the material surfaces that are on display. The pieces are sculptural, and yet they stand in as placeholders for that which is absent. They open themselves to the visitor’s actual and imaginative perception. In a sense, these pieces may be, to the artists as much as to the visitors, a land unknown.Pictures:
Oxford SPACEBASE (2023)
A research-based, electroacoustic composition for the production Oxford Spacebase on the history of the former Oxford Barracks in Münster / Gievenbeck.
War and peace are often closely intertwined. The site of the former Oxford Barracks in Gievenbeck is a notable example of this. For decades, it was an isolated military world, separated from civil society by walls. Now, the walkable theatre installation OXFORD SPACEBASE by Ballmoos Productions invites you to step into a time capsule and look behind the bricks. Eyewitness reports cast light on moments in the history of this area, from its use as farmland, to the illegal construction of the barracks by the Nazis, to the stationing of the British Army. The former troop building plays the main role in a production that tells the untold, breaks open spaces, and faces the past with wide-open eyes. In the clock tower, an international team of artists stands up for remembrance and against forgetting. In the city of the Peace of Westphalia. The former garrison town.
Artistic Direction: Till Wyler von Ballmoos
Director, Script: Anina La Roche
Scenographic Concept: Atelier Lucie Lom | Elisa Fache, Philippe Leduc, Marc-Antoine Mathieu
Composition and Live Music: HYPER DUO | Gilles Grimaître, Julien Mégroz
Electroacoustic Installations: Cyrill Lim
Performance: Stella Maria Adorf, Thomas Douglas, Michael Taylor
Dramaturgy, Text: Lorenz Langenegger
Idea: Veit Christoph Baecker
Research: Jana Bernhardt
Assistant Director: Viktoria Mletzko
Production Management: Veronika Kalievskaya, Randi Günnemann
Technical Management: Timo von der Horst, Johannes Sundrup
A co-production of Theater im Pumpenhaus and Ballmoos Productions
Supported by Stiftung der Sparkasse Münsterland Ost, Kunststiftung NRW, Musikfonds e.V. with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, Cultural Office of the City of Münster, Swiss Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia With the kind support of Stadtarchiv Münster, Villa ten Hompel, KonvOY GmbH, Amt für Immobilienmanagement der Stadt Münster, NRW.URBAN, Kunsthalle Münster, Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Canton Zug
Pictures:
A Land Unknown (2020)
Lim & Zaes’ installation piece collects various visual, tactile, sonic and human-made phenomena, all of which unfold at, and on, the material surfaces that are on display. The pieces are sculptural, and yet they stand in as placeholders for that which is absent. They open themselves to the visitor’s actual and imaginative perception. In a sense, these pieces may be, to the artists as much as to the visitors, a land unknown.and in part by the Canton of Zug, Switzerland
Pictures:
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The Navidson Records (2016)
New Music Theater as an installationSomeone opens a door. Something is concealed behind it. At this moment the situation spins out of control.
Performance by: Noémie Brun, Dragana Bulut, der chor, Andries Cloete, Marie-Clémence Delprat, Maxine Devaud, Leo Dick, Michael Feyfar, Béatrice Gaudreault-Laplante, Ole Hübner, Kristian Hverring, Katelyn King, Lana Kostic, Rosalba Quindici, Ruben Mattia Santorsa, Pierre Sublet, Tassilo Tesche, Sibill Urweider, Till Wyler von Ballmoos,
Artistic Director: Till Wyler von Ballmoos und Tassilo Tesche
For “The Navidson Records” 18 performers and a choir emblematically
develop together the concept of a labyrinth with the help of texts, music, and choreography. By means of a cross-media and extensive installation the performance
examines that moment when the situation tilts, that moment between when one feels at home and this everyday. What should we do when we suddenly are in nothingness and are nowhere? This uncanny moment can represent situations when we believe we are lost and thrown back on our own. In a mutual performative/musical exploration the performers investigate with the audience the morphogenesis of unsafe situations.
An open work process will be selected for the production and
the performance, deliberately taking into account the intermittent loss of orientation.
The constant question is: Which decisions do we have to make in order to reach the center of the labyrinth?
Münchener Biennale 2016
Festival für neues Musiktheater
Original mit Untertitel
The Navidson Records
Commissioned Composition from Landeshauptstadt München for Münchener Biennale
Coproduction from Münchener Biennale with KonzertTheater Bern and the Hochschule der Künste Bern - Studiengang Théâtre musical
Winner of the Internationalen Plattform Neues Musiktheater 2014
In Cooperation with Lothringer 13
Artistic Directors: Till Wyler von Ballmoos und Tassilo Tesche
Composition: Ole Hübner, Rosalba Qindici, Benedikt Schiefer
Sounddesign: Kristian Hverring
Electroacoustics: Cyrill Lim
Singers: Andries Cloete, Michael Feyfar
Musicians: Noémie Brun, Marie-Clémence Delprat, Béatrice Gaudreault-Laplante, Katelyn King, Lana Kostic, Sibill Urweider, Ruben Mattia Santorsa, Estelle Costanzo
Musical Director: Pierre Sublet
the choir; Director: Auður Jónsdóttir
Dramaturgical support: Malte Ubenauf
Participationg Observer: Leo Dick
Photo: Anika Rukofski
Pictures:
pochen (2014)
installation by Cyrill Lim and Marcel Zaesseven audio transducers on suspended panels of metal, plexiglas,
MDF, styrofoam, foam rubber, carton and ceramic,
multichannel audio player, amplifiers and sine wave sounds,
dimensions variable
Panels of different materials, spread all over the space, are used as resonators. Each panel is stimulated with an artificial audio impulse that, in resonating on the panel, becomes audible. Since the very same audio impulse results in different sounds on panels of different materials, the characteristics of the respective material are emphasized. Rhythmically, all impulses follow a leading pulse, each deviating minutely from that lead. The result is a diffuse beat which acts as the soundscape for the swarm of suspended panels that, were it not for air movements, would be utterly still.
photos & video © 2014 Cyrill Lim & Marcel Zaes
Pictures:
Ansichten von Zug
Contribution to the project "Ansichten von Zug" (mid October until mid December 2014):
http://blog.forumjungekunst.ch
Pictures:
colours beneath the white (2014)
ephemeral sound installation by Cyrill Limsix hours-long installation conceived for Eugen Jans' exhibition during the "black cube", an event of the series "RäumesindTräume".
Out of its entire panoply
More and more material is being stripped of white noise
More and more forms of colours of sound uncover
More and more colours cover
And float back into black
Pictures:
Videos:
wellen (2004)
Downloads (Flyer, concepts etc... download with right click and "Save as"):
Arbeit minimiert.pdfPictures:
Videos:
ever become again (2012)
by Lilian Beidler and Cyrill Limever become again are three sculptural pictures that are referring to each other on different levels. Central to this work is the topic of time, which is an immanent and essential part of our process orientated work as media artists with an emphasis on sound / music.
Intrigued by the limitation of the 9 x 12 envelope, our goal was to combine these interests to create a sculptural work. As a result our triplet is thematizing sound - and therefore time - as well as the symbolic system and the relations and contrasts of material and media.
ever consists of a small music box run with a perforated tape. This tape is glued together at both ends and therefore the pierced melody forms a loop. The recipients can play the music box by turning its crank.
become is a digital photo frame which shows a photo of an inactive digital wrist watch.
again is a tablet of about 30 x 22 cm made from cotton wool and cress seeds. During the exhibition the cress plants will be growing and gradually be deforming the word "sound".
Pictures:
Videos:
infinite silent redundancy (2012)
by Marcel Zaes und Cyrill LimAudio Guide for the Swiss Institute in Rome on ocassion of the final group exhibition of all the scholarship holders of the year 2011/2012 at Villa Maraini.
Marcel Zaes and Cyrill Lim developed an audio guide, which corrupts the exhibits in a non-destructive way.
Photos © Ela Bialkowska
Downloads (Flyer, concepts etc... download with right click and "Save as"):
isr.pdfPictures:
wispern (2010)
by Cyrill Lim for five with the aid of satellite dishes focused speakersAt the beginning of the nineties David Hockney made "photographic collages", pictures out of many small photographs which, put together, display the whole scenery. Although the single photographs are not all made from the same point of view nor at the same time or with the same lighting conditions, what emerges in the end is a single picture which one could see in a kind of overall perspective. Analogous, in this installation a poly-rhythmic structure is split up into its components and spread throughout the room. With some patience and a attentive ear one could not only find the single components but the whole sound structure. To make this possible the speakers have to be very focused to build a kind of sound beam similar to pointing at a single spot with several laser pointers. To this effect I am using satellite dishes. The speakers are headed towards the satellite dishes which focus' the sound and send the beam to a specific point.
This very silent and soft installation requires huge concentration. Even very silent noises could be disturbing.
Photos © David Schwery
Pictures:
Videos:
scherbeln (2010)
sound- and lightinstallation for 15 windowsconcept, realization: Cyrill Lim and Marcel Zaes
Realization light: Ruedi Steiner and Daniel Meuter of Lichtbau
This sound-light-installation has been made on the occasion of the Museumsnacht Bern 2010 for the window facade of the arts school of Bern.
Each of the 15 windows are illuminated from the inside by one source. The brightness of each source is changing in a specific pattern dependent on the numbers of windows and the overall duration, in this case during the overall duration of eight hours.
So the installation's pattern is determined by the building itself and therefore at each building the installation will be a unique location-dependent work which can be realized at any similar facade.
Additionally, the seven lower windows are equipped with a special speaker which will get the windows to audibly oscillate. As a sound source we use sine waves which frequencies are based on the same pattern that is controlling the lights. The base frequency, and at the same time the resonance frequency of the windows, is determining the lowest pitch. At the beginning of each period every two hours all the sound sources are at this frequency. In each hour between, the seven pitches are forming a predetermined chord.
Photos © Marcel Zaes & Lichtbau
Pictures:
I, Phon (2008/2010)
by Cyrill Lim for five individual speakersActually, the reality of acoustic actions is a conscious-depending, subjective actuality. Therefore, to playback a sound as "real" as possible the use of a speaker is a paradox.
Every time a speaker is used the sound is going to be medial distorted several times: By the constructor, the electronics and the recipient. "I, Phon" is an installation which is characterized by the "sound-interpretation" of each individual speaker (and amplifier).
So the musical content of the installation is composed based on the sound characteristic analysis of the used speakers.
Each day we are exposed to sounds, talk and music played back through speakers: Mobile, train station announcements, iPod / iPhone, the background music in department stores, ... Some listen to music with headphones, others buy expensive stereos and overboost their subwoofers and kill their linear frequency response (which made the stereo expensive in the first place). It is these differences in the construction method of the loudspeakers which make each model unique. Whilst in normal situations one's blinding out this intervention of the soundness of the playback and is using the speaker to listen to one's favorite album I would like to specifically direct the focus of the listener towards the speaker as a medium.
Photos © David Schwery, Timo Loosli und Tobias Reber
Downloads (Flyer, concepts etc... download with right click and "Save as"):
BernBerlin.pdfPictures:
Videos: